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Atrial fibrillation

FIRE or ICE? Cryoablation not inferior, not superior

The primary analysis of FIRE AND ICE demonstrated that cryoablation was noninferior to radiofrequency ablation for the primary efficacy end point of first documented clinical failure. Secondary analysis suggested that cryoablation had advantages over radiofrequency ablation in terms of rehospitalizations and repeat procedures; however, the validity of these results must be questioned.

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Acknowledgements

J.M.K. and P.S. are supported by Practitioner Fellowships from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. P.S. is supported by the National Heart Foundation of Australia.

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Correspondence to Jonathan M. Kalman.

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J.M.K. declares that the Royal Melbourne Hospital has received fees for his service on the advisory board of Biosense Webster and Boston Scientific. The Royal Melbourne Hospital has also received unrestricted research and fellowship funding from Biosense Webster, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical to support J.M.K.'s research. P.S. declares that the University of Adelaide has received fees for his service on the advisory board of Biosense-Webster, Boston Scientific, CathRx, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical. The University of Adelaide has also received fees for lectures or consultations provided by P.S. from Biosense-Webster, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical. The University of Adelaide has received unrestricted research funding from Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and Sorin to support P.S.'s research.

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Kalman, J., Sanders, P. FIRE or ICE? Cryoablation not inferior, not superior. Nat Rev Cardiol 13, 572–574 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2016.141

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